Tikal

Tikal did not disappoint.  While there is some debate if it is the largest Mayan site, there is no disputing that it is the best excavated.  Some of the temples have been excavated as recently as 2013.  Tikal is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  People lived at Tikal from 2000 BC - 900 AD with the city peaking in the early 800s when the population was close to 90,000 people. The site covers 23 square miles and large scale excavations started in the 1960s.  And now I really want to read some more about Mayan history.

We toured Tikal for over 3 hours.  I climbed to the top of 4 temples - one via the giant stone stairs and the others on wooden stairs alongside the temples - for a total of 55 flights of stairs during the tour.   It was hot and humid but not too buggy.  I had to re-apply my trusty bug spray from Africa a few times.

Here I am in front of the most famous temple at Tikal.  This is the one on all the postcards.

Here you can see a few temples sticking out above the rainforest canopy.  When this was an active city then none of that jungle was there.  It was a wide open city with wide boulevards, thousands of buildings, reservoirs, markets and ball fields.  The buildings were also plastered and elaborately painted and adorned.  

Video of the grand plaza

We also saw some funky birds, monkeys and other small animals related to raccoons.  This turkey looks like he'd ready to party.

After the tour, I borrowed one of the hotel's fat tire bikes to ride around on the trails here.  This was my first time on a fat tire bike.  It took me awhile to get used to it but what a blast after I got the hang of it.

Tomorrow,  I have a tour of Flores and a wildlife rehabilitation center before heading on to Belize.